


Say Anything. Or Don't.

by francythat



Category: Nancy Drew (Video Games), Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries - Franklin W. Dixon & Carolyn Keene
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 22:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11610363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/francythat/pseuds/francythat
Summary: Nancy needs a plus one for Ned’s wedding to Deirdre. Nancy reaches out to Frank after a few years of no contact.





	1. The Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> This did not turn out anything like I had originally thought, hope you still like it!

You are cordially invited to the joining of:

Ned Nickerson and Deirdre Shannon

Nancy felt like she was going to throw up seeing the invitation. It wasn’t like Nancy was still hung up on Ned, or that Ned and Deirdre didn’t work together, honestly Nancy had no clue, she avoided Deirdre as a rule. It was Deirdre that made her want to gag. Unfortunately she didn’t have the luxury of just not going. 1. Ned would be crushed. 2. Deirdre would think she’d won something. 3. The whole town would notice her absence which would make things extra worse. No, Nancy had to go, and she would need a plus one that wasn’t her father, Bess, or George. She would think of someone, she knew it, she had tons of connections, lots of favors she could call in, it would be totally fine to RSVP herself with a plus one.


	2. The Problem

“You can’t go?!” Nancy almost cries on the phone.

“I really wish that I could Nancy, it would be great to see you, but one of the horses is pregnant and she’s due around then, I have to be here.” Nancy hung her head, admitting defeat. Dave was at least the 10th guy she’d called to come as her plus one, a list including Daryl Gray, Grigor Karakinos, Alec Fell,  Wade Thorton, Colin Baxter, Dylan Carter, heck she’d even tried to track down Sonny Joon! Sonny was of course on the other side of the world and was not going to come all the way back just to emotionally support Nancy. Of course. Nancy slumped back into her living room where Bess and George were lounging on the couch. “There goes another date.” Nancy moans as she flops on the couch with the cousins. “I’m pretty much out of options  _ and _ time.”

The cousins glance knowingly at each other over Nancy’s weary body. “I know of one date you haven’t asked yet.” Bess teases Nancy.

“Guys, there’s no way I could ask Frank to go with me.”

“Why not?” George prods.

“It would make things so complicated!”

“How? People take their friends to weddings all the time.” Bess chimes in.

“Not in small towns to their long term ex-boyfriend’s wedding they don’t!” Nancy cries.

“Nance it’ll be way less weird than any of the other guys you’ve been asking to go with you! At least you’ve spent more than like two days with him and he isn’t an ex-con! 

Ugh. Bess had a point there. But Nancy didn’t  _ want _ to think logically. Of course Frank was the logical answer. He always was. But Nancy hadn’t talked to him in a while, he might even have a girlfriend for all she knew.

“What are you afraid of?” Bess’ question throws Nancy into a distant memory. She’d been on a case with the Hardys. Nancy and Frank had gotten separated from Joe, trapped in a frigid cave overnight. Desperate for warmth and fearing for their lives they sat huddled together. Nancy’s fear mixed with her other emotions got the best of her as she lead Frank on that night, to then tell him she was still with Ned. He was so crushed he looked like he would rather be trapped in the cave forever instead of having been told that. He didn’t speak to Nancy for the rest of the trip. The lack of his eyes boring into her made her burn even more. But she didn’t have any reason to break up with Ned at the time. Ironically she had found out much later that Ned had cheated on her with Deirdre at the time. By the time she was finally apart from Ned, there had been months of no communication between her and Frank. He probably wouldn’t even answer when she called so what was the point? Hearing his voice on his voicemail would be too painful.

“I’m afraid he’ll say no. Or he’ll say yes out of pity.” She finally admitted.

“Well Nance I’m sorry but I don’t think you have a choice.”  _ Damn _ . If George couldn’t come up a solution Nancy really was toast. 

“Fine. Can we at least watch something first?”

“You bet!” Bess jumps up to play an episode of Gilmore Girls.


	3. The Ask

An hour later Nancy finds herself staring at her phone. Frank Hardy. Even the harsh font on her screen seemed to sting her, like the whole world knew she’d hurt Frank and she was only beginning to pay the time for her crime. When she finally worked up the courage to press send, she really hoped that Joe would answer instead of Frank. She was deciding if voicemail or Frank answering would be worse when all of the sudden the phone stopped ringing.

“Hello?” Nancy almost weeped just hearing his voice. She sat there for a moment in amazement that he’d actually answered her call. “Nancy? Are you alright??”  _ Oh crap, now he probably thinks I’m in trouble and can’t speak but need him to help me. _

“Hey Frank. Yeah, I’m good…”

“Good. What’s up?”  _ He sounds irritated. This was _ such  _ a bad idea _ .

“To be perfectly frank, Frank.”  _ Yikes!  _ “As you have to know, Ned is getting married next week and I need a plus one. I know this is so horribly rude of me - and not in a Minette way of being rude -” Shit, she was rambling, she was only getting worse.

“Yes.” 

“Huh?” Nancy was so thrown off by him speaking and pulling her out of her jumbled word mess she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

“Yes, I can make an appearance in River Heights as your plus one to Ned’s wedding.” Frank said it so matter-of-factly like it would bring absolutely zero joy to him but because he was just that amazing of a guy he would put with going to a wedding with the girl that broke his heart to the wedding of the guy that ruined everything. But really she shouldn’t have expected him to be jumping at the chance to go. But he said yes. That was enough. 

“Ohmygosh thank you SO much Frank. I owe you.”

“Don’t mention it. Really.” And with that he hung up. 

So that was it. Nancy was going to Ned’s wedding with Frank. Frank being an extremely irritated acquaintance. Nancy shuddered to herself. She decided she needed some hot chocolate and more Gilmore Girls.


	4. The Regret

“Don’t mention it. Really.” Frank couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. He couldn’t handle the amount of energy it was draining from him. Nancy didn’t need to give him details, he could get those from Joe. The purpose of the call was over so he could put himself out of his misery easily and so he did. He put his phone down and asked “Why did I do this?”

“Maybe you’re hoping to rekindle the flame?” Frank threw a dirty look Joe’s way.

He was so tense he thought he could cry or punch something. As much as he wanted to punch his  _ dear  _ brother in the guts, he knew he couldn’t so instead he went on a run to clear his head, let out some of his tension and nervous energy. Unfortunately the battery died on his iPod a few minutes into his run so he was left with his thoughts as he was too hyped up to quit just then. As he ran the memories of his last moments with Nancy came flooding back. He knew they had been strenuous situations, the cold, the ever-present loom of death, but still, it wasn’t right. That day she had stabbed an icicle in his heart that had yet to melt. He had tried to date other girls but they all meant nothing to him, he was just numb to any emotions. He felt like a petrified version of himself. He was finally, _ finally  _ starting to recover, and then she dropped this bombshell on him. He had said he would be there for her but he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to keep this promise. 

_ Really, she deserves this. _ He tried to tell himself.

_ No she didn’t, she was too good to see the evil in front of her.  _ Ugh, he was going to have to make up his mind about her  _ before  _ he saw her again as he knew not how terribly his heart might betray him at the sight of her alone.


	5. The Drive

Joe was driving for which Frank was so grateful. He didn’t think he’d be able to willingly move faster towards River Heights. Towards her. Frank started to fidget again as he peered out the window at the cars and landscape flying by. His heart started to pound,  _ why was he nervous _ ? He’s just being a friend to Nancy, literally just a human being next to a human for a few hours. There was nothing special about being a plus one, it’s just a body to make you not feel single af. And obviously it meant nothing special to Nancy as clearly she had tried to get other people to go with her before him otherwise why the such short notice. But obviously there was some longing on her part otherwise she wouldn’t have asked him. This was a trap. She was going to be in need again and she’d ask him to comfort her. He was not going to let this happen again. He came up with a list of topics to avoid. 1. How’s life? Presumably she didn’t have a boyfriend but maybe she did and Frank didn’t care. Or she didn’t and she was lonely which Frank also didn’t care about anymore. She could’ve done something about that, but she didn’t. 2. Ask her about any cases. 3 Definitely not going to ask if she planned on moving out of her house with her dad/moving out of River Heights. She’d totally say she’s just waiting for a man to move in with. Frank will not be that man. He will not allow that fantasy. Not at a wedding that finalizes Nancy is free.

Topics he could potentially be ok with talking about. 1. Togo. 2. Carson. 3. Bess/George. Unfortunately Nancy could slip in there how much any of these seemed to miss Frank. 4. The weather, always a great choice. 5. Places she’d like to visit? Frank used to know the answer to this question but he didn’t know Nancy anymore, maybe she’d changed.  _ Oh shit. What if she has changed??  _ Frank worried to himself. Maybe she’s become a more terrible person. No, more likely she’s better than ever, probably volunteers at the Humane Society now or something, volunteer fire fighter saving children from burning buildings. Frank sighed. He wanted to jump out of the car now, fearful of what was to come when they stopped driving. 

“If you’re going to throw up, please roll down the window.” Joe states, nonplussed.

“I’m fine Joe.” 

“Could’ve fooled me. Just have a drink in your hand the whole time and you’ll be fine.” So easy for Joe to say, he was going to be the life of the party as always, not really tied down to a date. 

“Spilling a drink on her would be a good escape plan if necessary.” Frank mutters more to himself than to Joe.

“Frank!” Joe slaps his shoulder without looking away from the road.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“You are not going to ruin Nancy’s night because you can’t get over your grudge.”

“Doesn’t she deserve some pain? After what she did to me?” 

“You really think that’s going to make you happy? Seeing her in pain knowing that you caused it?” Frank felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He really didn’t want to hurt Nancy. Especially since then the blame was only on her for why they wouldn’t work out. 


	6. The Horror

Bess saunters over to where Nancy and Frank are sitting at a table, in silence as they had already covered all of Frank’s approved conversation topics, watching everyone else on the dance floor. “You guys look absolutely pathetic. You’re bringing everybody down! Suck it up and dance.” She pants, still out of breath from the last dance. Her eyes are starting to burn through Nancy and Frank. Neither spoke, they just stood up and trudged their way to the dance floor.  Of course it was just their luck that the DJ decided to “slow it down a bit” and the song they were going to dance was a slow dance. The only silver lining they saw in this was that it would require much less energy from them. That was it. 

“I’m sorry.” Nancy finally musters up from their silence. She was staring at her feet and he had been staring off into the distance, trying not to think about how close she was and yet still unattainable. 

“It’s fine.” He’s barely able to manage the words. 

“I didn’t mean to do that to you, I don’t want to do this to you. I was stupid, in a relationship going nowhere that felt too safe to disturb.”

“Nancy,” he had to consciously use her full name “We were just kids. It happens.”  _ Why had he said yes again? Because he was a nice guy. But nice guys never win, they just get their hearts stomped on until they die. _ At that moment the music stopped as a Top 40 song was to be played next. Frank violently yanked his hands from around Nancy and stalked off to the bar. Nancy stood frozen in the middle of the dance floor, staring longingly after him. Thankfully, Bess and George were there to swoop in. George gave Nancy a quick twirl to try to shake her from her thoughts. It worked.

“So? What happened?? Was it that bad?” Bess wants to know.

“No. It was WAY WAY worse.” Nancy whisper shouts over the music. “We didn’t speak for most of the song, so then I just let an apology slip out and he just brushed it off. Now he ran off to the bar to forget the whole damn thing.” Nancy hangs her head, crestfallen. 

Bess and George give each other a knowing look. “What was that about?” Nancy inquires of her two best friends.

“Nancy, it’s time for plan B.” Bess states matter-of-factly.

“Plan B? I didn’t even know there was a Plan A??!” The cousins grin mischievously.

\--

Nancy didn’t see Frank Hardy for the rest of the night. She assumed (correctly) that he would leave with his brother. The next day Nancy just wanted to lie suffocating under a pile of blankets. Bess and George had other ideas for how Nancy would spend her day.  


	7. The Move

She hadn’t driven to Bayport in years, but the way was still ingrained in her. Her thumbs drummed nervously on the steering wheel the entire way, always contemplating if she should turn around and go home.

She found his window easily, his was the only room on this side of the house, a fact that would be quite handy tonight. Nancy takes a deep breath, presses play, and lifts her five pound boombox over her head. The song begins.

 

Love I get so lost, sometimes

Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart

When I want to run away

I drive off in my car

But whichever way I go

I come back to the place you are

 

Nancy beings to worry about a million things.  _ What if he isn’t home? What if the music isn’t loud enough? What if he doesn’t get this reference??? What if he and Joe switched rooms? What if he just wants nothing to do with me?  _ The last question scared her too much. Then she thought she noticed movement in the window. A dark-haired face was peering out the window at her, and just as quickly it was gone.  _ He’s probably disgusted. I have no self-pride. Or respect for him, I keep throwing myself at his feet.  _ Is what Nancy imagines he thinks of her, until suddenly she hears a door open somewhere and shut quickly, then feet running across the dewy grass. Nancy can hardly breath she’s so anxious.

 


	8. The Recovery

Frank was having a very hard time falling asleep. His few interactions with Nancy at the wedding just kept running through his head. Had he done the right thing? Did she actually care for him and did he mess it up? His one and only dream? He was lost in his thoughts until suddenly he heard something outside. Was that really “In Your Eyes” playing? He ran to his window hoping it was, and wasn’t for him. And there she was, glowing in the moonlight. He had to decide, he could let his anger continue to rot at him until he was only a shell of a being, or he could finally let go of his anger and replace it with the love for her he had tried so hard to bury. As he chose the second option he felt relief rush over him. He  _ had  _ to get down there. He ran downstairs, slipping on the hardwood floors as he rounded the corner in his socks. There she was, even more beautiful than earlier. He ran to her and put his hands around her face and just kissed her. He felt like there were thousands of Pop Rocks in his veins all crackling at the same time. 

“MMMH” Nancy gasps. Frank breaks free to let her speak. She had actually been trying to say radio. She set it down on the ground and went right back to kissing him, now being able to hold onto him, he felt her arms longingly caress his body and he ran a hand through her hair. Suddenly the music stops and “Hot in Herre” begins to play. Nancy’s face turns bright red and she hurries to turn off the boombox. Frank just has to laugh. Nancy smiles at him, so happy to see him laughing. 

“So now what?” 

“Now I’m going to put this thing back in my car.” 

“And?” 

“Well I have two options that I see. The first is that I get in my car and drive away.” Franks face falls at the thought of this idea. “Ooor, I can grab my overnight bag from my car and you can see to my accommodations for the night.” She teases playfully, hoping he’ll take the second option. She really could not take the drive back to River Heights being so totally defeated.

“Hmmm I think I’ll take a number two please.” He laughs and Nancy joins in. Relief flooding over both of them.


End file.
